Automotive engine control modules generally include a housing which contains circuit boards which include circuitry to control engine operating parameters. It is often necessary to electrically connect at least two of the circuit boards together and to fold the circuit boards so as to be in facing relation so as to be accommodated in the housing. To facilitate such placement, the electrical interconnection between the circuit boards should have some degree of flexibility. Further, for mass production, it is preferable to use a surface mounting technique to mount electrical components to the circuit boards and to make the interconnection between the circuit boards.
One approach is to employ a flexible substrate defining each circuit board and using a flexible interconnection between each flexible substrate. However, flexible substrates are costly and generally have two-layer construction which means only two circuits can be provided on each substrate. Further, the flexible substrates are difficult to laminate and delamination is a concern during manufacture and assembly.
Rigid circuit boards are less costly and advantageously provide four or more layer construction. However, it is difficult to interconnect rigid circuit boards using surface mounting techniques to permit the circuit boards to be disposed in facing or stacked relation because the connector must provide both sufficient rigidity and flexibility during the placement and assembly process. In particular, the connector must be sufficiently rigid during placement and soldering onto the circuit boards, sufficiently flexible to allow relative movement of the circuit boards during assembly, and then sufficiently rigid to prevent contact between the leads and between the leads and the housing during normal operation.
Accordingly, a need exists to provide an apparatus and a method for electrically connecting two generally rigid circuit boards using surface mounting techniques whereby the circuit boards may be manipulated with respect to each other when mounting the circuit boards in a housing.